Global Intellect

1941: German engineer Konrad Zuse unveils the Z3, now generally recognized as the first fully functional, programmable computer.
Because Zuse designed and built his computer inside Nazi Germany, which was already at war, his achievement went unnoticed outside Germany until after the Third Reich’s collapse. In the meantime, the Harvard Mark 1, a computer produced by an American team, appeared in 1944 and is still occasionally cited as the first of its kind.
Complicating Zuse’s claim of priority, an air raid destroyed his computer, as well as all accompanying photographs and documentation. Zuse rebuilt the Z3 15 years after the war ended, to demonstrate its capabilities and to establish his claim to the patents associated with the machine.
The Z3, Zuse’s third computer in a series of four, used the simple binary system for performing complicated mathematical computations — its outstanding feature.
Zuse is also remembered for devising Plankalkül (calculation plan), an early programming […]

Original post by Tony Long